Oxford defines the word as: "(n.) a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website."
According to the Oxford's editors, use of the word has gone up 17,000% in the past 12 months. And this was the percentage before President Obama's much discussed selfie at Nelson Mandela's memorial service earlier this week. The percentage is probably higher by now.
I'd guess the second runner-up for the word of the year for 2013 is "twerking," the dance (exhibition?) made famous (infamous?) by Miley Cyrus' performance (display?) at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Newspapers use the Associated Press Stylebook to maintain consistency among newspapers and wire services. That way stories could be transferred from one paper to another, or to the wire and to another newspaper, without a lot of editing. It is the Bible for newsrooms and the final authority when editors are arguing over whether "under way" is one word or two. (Yes, we do debate these things.)
With editors all over America asking if the form of dance known as "twerking" should have an uppercase or lowercase letter, the Associated Press now has a preferred style.
From www.apstylebook.com's Ask the Editor blog:
Q. "Twerk" -- I just wondered -- does the AP Stylebook already have or plan to add any information about using this urban term? Thank you! – from Louisa, Va. on Fri, Dec 06, 2013
A. AP stories already use twerk or twerking -- lowercase, no quotes -- with a brief description of the dance style recently popularized by singer Miley Cyrus.
So, back to our President taking a selfie at a funeral....Someone talking about it today on a local radio station called behaving in such a manner "tasteless." I thought to myself, that's stating the obvious.
And, speaking of words, what is the word for stating the obvious? I guess "duh" works, but that's old school. I was saying that way back in junior high.
So, let me propose two words. The first comes from my 21-year-old son, Josh. I ask him how he's doing, he replies, "meh." I ask how he likes (insert something tangible, intangible, good, bad or ugly here), and he says, "meh." It's a word that makes a statement without stating anything.
Then there is "narf," which is what Pinky from the cartoon "Pinky and the Brain" used to say when he had nothing else to say.
Whether you're tweeting, twerking, or taking a selfie, it's hard to keep up with new words and phrases In our fast-paced, tech-obsessed world.
Narf.
